Term of the Day

Shovelware is a derogatory term used for software that has either been quickly developed without regard to quality or function and features, or software that has been forced on customers such as those that are preloaded on laptops or smartphones by their respective carriers.
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In May of 2013 McKinsey & Company published their now famous report which outlined twelve disruptive technologies that would have a big impact by 2025. 3D printing was one of them and consumer products were a driving force.
In the report, they noted that, “3D printing could have meaningful impact on certain consumer product categories, including toys, accessories, jewelry, footwear, ceramics, and simple apparel.” They predicted that “global sales of products in these categories could grow to $4 trillion a year (at retail prices) by 2025.”

Three-dimensional printing of useful objects and machine parts is becoming a reality. 3D printing offers the ability to produce—both rapidly and at low cost—short runs or one-of-a-kind parts. HP’s development of HP Multi Jet Fusion technology includes new HP Jet Fusion 3D Printers and an Open Platform that will revolutionize the design, materials, manufacturing, and distribution of 3D parts to drive the digital transformation of manufacturing.
This technical white paper provides details on HP Multi Jet Fusion and HP’s strategies and vision to introduce a new era of digital manufacturing.

The manufacturing landscape faces dramatic change. Creating and capturing value in this new environment requires aerospace companies to not just understand what’s driving these changes, but also grasp just how consequential a role digital transformation will play in determining their future.
Download this white paper now to find out how the manufacturing landscape faces dramatic change.

Across the automotive industry, organizations are using analytics to transform all aspects of their business. In the vast
majority of instances, the analytics performed is on data that is already available within the organization or wider automotive ecosystem, but has not yet been tapped to use its full potential. Analytics can unlock the value held in this data, helping to answer key “what if” questions across the organization and the value chain. For example, what if dealerships could better understand their customers’ digital journey? Or what if manufacturing could improve visibility into parts, assembly and vehicle inventory?

Whether you know it as Industry 4.0, the 4th Industrial Revolution, or Smart Industry, Manufacturing is going through a deep transformation, with changes that are centered around digitalization. While most industries are already on this digitalization path, the disruption is more visible and pronounced in manufacturing because it is expanding virtual data and processes into environments that have been fundamentally about physical products. This transformation has already started, and its impact is expected to be massive. Technical, economic, and social changes are expected across the whole manufacturing ecosystem, with jobs shifting from offshoring back to nearshoring. Strong technology elements driving this digital revolution include 3D printing, robotizing and automation, smart factory with IoT and machine learning, and supply chain digitization. Their impact is profound.

The new age of digital manufacturing is expected to drive dramatic business improvements for companies transitioning from legacy automation systems. Manufacturers can create a foundation for a highly integrated and intelligent decision-making value chain by connecting existing industrial sub-systems, sensors and machines with enterprise applications.

The world we work in today has fundamentally changed towards a digital world. The digital highways that service businesses are creating greater and great amounts of data. In fact, manufacturing generates more data than any other sector of the economy.

The forces of digital disruption have empowered consumers and inverted the power relationship between buyers and sellers. Competitive advantages based on manufacturing, distribution, and IT are no longer sustainable. Customer loyalty has all but disappeared; buyers can and will shift their allegiance immediately if disappointed. In the era of the empowered consumer, business success depends upon offering consistently outstanding customer experiences across multiple touchpoints and over the entire customer lifecycle.

Consumers anoint—and abandon—providers with breathtaking speed, causing seismic shifts in the market. This new era of consumers is also increasingly difficult to define, no longer neatly fitting into traditional marketing segments. With the rise of emerging markets and micro-segments, manufacturing is confronting the challenge of mass customization.
The question is not if or when but how: Customers are demanding variety, and manufacturing companies must deliver.
What’s key to making this work? Big data visibility, flexible processes, and an agile ecosystem that can move swiftly to serve an increasingly fragmenting, but exceptionally demanding consumer base.

IDC Research shows that manufacturers worldwide are rapidly embracing new technologies to transform their business models and operations to improve agility, customer engagement, profit and sustainable competitive advantage.

Analysts and industry experts agree: Digital disruption in manufacturing is on the horizon. Technologies like the Internet of Things, dynamic enterprise management, global supply chain visibility, and machine learning are already changing the way manufacturers produce goods and interact with customers. Further changes will continue to intensify issues and reveal opportunities.

Analysts and industry experts agree: Digital disruption in manufacturing is on the horizon. Technologies like the Internet of Things, dynamic enterprise management, global supply chain visibility, and machine learning are already changing the way manufacturers produce goods and interact with customers. Further changes will continue to intensify issues and reveal opportunities.

The concept of a virtual, digital equivalent to a physical product or the Digital Twin was introduced in 2003 at a University of Michigan Executive Course on Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) taught by Dr. Michael Grieves. In light of these advances, it is timely to explore how the Digital Twin can move from an interesting and potentially useful concept that aids in understanding the relationship between a physical product and its underlying information to a critical component of an enterprise-wide closed-loop product lifecycle.
Understand how focusing on the connection between physical product and virtual product will improve productivity, uniformity of production, and ensure the highest quality products.

Direct digital manufacturing, otherwise known as rapid manufacturing, is a process that employs additive fabrication technology (aka rapid prototyping) to produce end-use items. Directly from CAD data, components are manufactured without molding, casting or machining. The impact of direct digital manufacturing is far-reaching, and the opportunities and advantages are extensive. This is why direct digital manufacturing is heralded as the next industrial revolution.

Rapid manufacturing's benefits extend far beyond the upfront savings on tooling. Discover how it will improve your operations, sales and profits and why it is heralded as the next industrial revolution. In the first of a series, you will discover the benefits of the freedom to redesign your products at any stage in the life cycle.

Adhering to the constraints and limiting design freedoms are necessary for conventional manufacturing processes. Rapid manufacturing eliminates all of the design constraints imposed by conventional manufacturing methods. It offers designers and engineers an unprecedented freedom to design a product and its components exclusively for the desired form, fit and function.

Bridge to production is not a technology. It is a method, tactic and strategy to overcome the time delay between the present and the anticipated date for receipt of tools or parts. Manufacturers of high-volume products frequently find themselves needing rapid delivery of a small quantity of production-grade components. Without them, manufacturing comes to a grinding halt.

Change—and the innovation it creates—increasingly defines the winners and losers in today’s manufacturing industry. As successful manufacturers continue to embrace the Internet of Things (IoT), Industry 4.0, and other digital transformation trends, it’s important to recognize and implement these changes or risk getting left behind by the competition.
In this Epicor eBook, we’ll look at five key areas where successful manufacturers must embrace change and use it to drive innovation, competition, and growth—including:
• The accelerating pace of technology change
• The changing face of the modern workforce
• Competing in a global manufacturing marketplace
• Tapping the power of analytics and data-driven manufacturing
• Charting a path to sustainable, cost-effective compliance
We’ll also explain how Epicor Cloud ERP equips manufacturers to regard change as an opportunity rather than a threat. Download the eBook to learn more.